1. Field of the Invention
This description generally relates to the field of wagering or gaming, and more particularly to monitoring the wagers, cards, or other activities of players at a gaming table.
2. Description of the Related Art
Gaming has enjoyed phenomenal growth over the recent past, with the addition of numerous forms of wager based gaming, the legalization of wagering in a large number of jurisdictions domestically and internationally, and the construction of numerous casinos to service the increasing demand for gaming opportunities.
Casinos provide a large variety of games and other forms of entertainment of its customers. For example, casinos may provide slot machines, as well as, table games such as blackjack, poker, craps, roulette, baccarat, big wheel or wheel of fortune, to name a few. Due to the large amounts of money, particularly cash involved in gaming, casinos must carefully monitor the activities of both players and casino employees. Careful and continuous monitoring of gaming activities not only enhances security, but also permits the management to better manage the casinos' business, for example, selecting the number of mix of tables, the hours of operation of various tables, staffing, etc.
Typically, a customer exchanges currency or some form of credit for a casino's chips. The customer places the chips as wagers at various games, such as blackjack, craps, roulette, and baccarat. A game operator, such as a dealer, pays out winning wagers with additional chips based on the set of odds for the particular game. The dealer collects the customer's chips for losing wagers. The odds of each game slightly favor the casino, so on average the casino wins and is profitable.
Like many businesses, casinos wish to understand the habits of their customers. Some casinos have employees visually observe customer's game play, manually tracking the gaming and wagering habits of the particular customers. The information allows the casinos to select the number of different games that the casino will provide and to adequately staff those games.
The fast pace and large sums of money make casinos likely targets for cheating and stealing. Casinos employ a variety of security measures to discourage cheating or stealing by both customers and employees. For example, surveillance cameras covering a gaming area or particular gaming table provide a live or taped video signal that security personnel can closely examine. Additionally, or alternatively, “pit managers” can visually monitor the live play of a game at the gaming table.
While some aspects of a casino's security system should be plainly visible as a deterrent, other aspects of the security should be unobtrusive to avoid detracting from the players' enjoyment of the game and to prevent cheaters and thieves from avoiding detection.
The current methods of tracking have several drawbacks. The methods typically depend on manual observation of a gaming table. Thus coverage is not comprehensive, and is limited to tracking a relatively small number of games, customer's and employees. This problem is exacerbated by a customer's ability to rapidly move between gaming tables. A commonly known method for cheating customers to avoid detection is to switch tables frequently. The tracking methods are also prone to error since the manual methods rely on human observers who can become inattentive or distracted. In one commonly known method of cheating the casino, one member of a team will create a distraction while another member steals chips or swaps cards. These manual tracking methods are also labor intensive, and thus costly.
The monitoring of a player's wagers with video cameras placed somewhere with in the perimeter of the table also has several drawbacks. For example, the resolution of video images can be adversely effected by changes in lighting conditions, which may be caused by shadows cast on the table, smoke in the casino, or a variety of other reasons. The players and/or dealer may impede or block the line of sight of the imagers with their hands, clothing, or other items. In addition, some casinos prefer to keep records of each gaming day for some time. Because large quantities of computing memory are necessary to store video images, the video images from a given evening or week must be frequently overwritten.
Optical imagers located in a raised platform proximate to the player's seating positions is another arrangement that has been used to read chips on a gaming table during game play. The raised platform is raised slightly above the playing surface of the gaming table. A number of optical imagers or cameras and a number of illuminating lights are recessed or embedded in the raised platform and directed toward the playing surface. The raised platform has a dual purpose in that it functions as a railing or rim of the gaming table where players can lean, place beverages, etc. and also functions as a place to conceal the imagers and lights from the player's view.
There are several drawbacks to placing the optical imagers in the raised platform as described above. First, the imagers and the related optical components are susceptible to damage from spilled or leaky beverages. Second, the imagers are susceptible to interference from the players' hands, clothing, and/or personal items such as a purse. Lastly, the platform functions as a surface for the players to lean against and/or on, which may cause movement of the raised platform and which may then result in the imagers becoming misaligned relative to an area on the table that is to be imaged. To minimize movement of the raised platform relative to the gaming table, the platform should be securely connected to the table. This secure connection, however, makes it more time-consuming and difficult to perform maintenance on the imagers, replace the imagers, and/or replace the raised platform without disturbing the players and/or halting game play.
Another tracking option is to embed optical imagers in close proximity to the wagering area, the area where a player places his or her chips when making a wager. Close proximity to the wagering area is necessary to obtain sufficient resolution of the player's chips. However, placing optical imagers on the table surface detracts from the traditional look and feel of a gaming table. In addition, any protuberance in the table caused by the optical imagers creates an impediment the smooth flow of cards between the dealer and the players.